Israel’s strike on Gaza continues after Hamas’s attack, according to the health ministry report 1,900 people died, including 614 children.
During a week of airstrikes, the Hamas-run health ministry reported that approximately 370 women were among the casualties, with 7,696 people wounded. Thousands of Gazans were forced to flee for their lives, uncertain of where to seek refuge, as the airstrikes and loss of life continued to haunt them.
A 29-year-old woman named Umm Hossam expressed the collective despair of many, saying, “How long will the strikes and death last? We have no homes left, every area of Gaza is under threat.” In a further grim development, Hamas took about 150 hostages, including Israelis, foreigners, and dual nationals, back to Gaza during the initial attack, as confirmed by Israel.
With the looming threat of a ground offensive, Israel had called for over a million Palestinians in northern Gaza to evacuate. This mass movement of people added to the already dire humanitarian crisis in the region. The situation escalated following a surprise weekend attack by Hamas, which marked the deadliest in Israel’s history.
Saudi Arabia, in a rare rebuke of Israel, strongly condemned the displacement of Palestinians and attacks on defenseless civilians. Riyadh expressed its “categorical rejection of calls for the forced displacement of the Palestinian people from Gaza” and condemned the ongoing targeting of civilians.
The conflict has sparked anger and protests in various parts of the Middle East and beyond, with demonstrations in support of the Palestinians in Beirut, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, and other places. In southern Lebanon, a Reuters video journalist lost his life, and several other reporters were injured in cross-border shelling.
The United Nations, noting the near-impossibility of moving nearly half of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents, called for the evacuation order to be rescinded. Hospitals in the region are overwhelmed, struggling to care for the injured and the dead. The World Health Organization described the health system as being “at a breaking point.”
In the midst of the conflict, Israel faces the potential of a second front in the north, with Hezbollah in Lebanon expressing readiness to join Hamas in the war when the time is right. Cross-border skirmishes have raised concerns about regional stability, leading the United States to send additional munitions and its largest aircraft carrier to the region.
